918 replies to this topic

[Gator Bob]

Steve, Great detail in your reporting, Thanks.

That huge flat track combined with the variety of these cars would have required top notch drivers with lots of laps on that track.

[havlicek]

Thanks for the (gulp) detailed pictures and explanations (as well as the gear!). Man, the body has taken some lumps along the way and I'm a little bummed that, with the signatures and all (I hope you guys will also sign it), that it's not looking too swift at this point. I suppose at least some of that is my fault for wanting to use a Q-Tip package in the Thingie spirit and the resulting short wheelbase. Oh well...no one will mistake it for a shelf queen Looks like our amigos in Spain are running a torture test!

-john

PS...it's probably nothing that one of the front outriggers shows track goop on it. On a high-speed bank, those things tend to do that. Of course, maybe it took some serious lumps up there as well as everywhere else!

[slotbaker]

No gear backlash again. Is that really how you guys run them?

Not on mine.
My philosophy is "Just enough backlash to feel it, but not see it" at it's tightest point.
Please sir, can I have some backlash?

[Jairus]

I have to remind you guys that some of this damage could have been on these cars prior to arriving in Barcelona! Remember... they ran 6 races prior to hitting Spanish soil, so to cast aspersions on Jordi and co. for ALL the damage is just not right!
These are race cars and some battle damage is to be expected or you should NOT have sent it in in the first place. Lets please be gentlemen and represent our respective countries with aplomb and esteem for our 'not so educated' slot car brethren. All things considered, this is the first time most of those guys had ever seen "hand made" machines. And as Angel suggested, they were very fast and some even faster than what they were used to! We are/were diplomats in that country through our cars and through our hobby. It was something they and we can agree upon or common ground if you will. So please post your responses accordingly in the future or I will ask a mod to delete anything that is offensive to any of the countries where we have raced!!!



Steve, I appreciate the care and attention you are giving these war weary veterans. Thank you very much. Please be sure to go through the storage boxes looking for replacement wheels, gear and the like if some are needed. I know Bob Steere sent a lot of extra parts, tho I doubt a replacement body was included.... to replace "Road Kills" Choti... hehehe.

[The Bugman]

thx for the positive report steve,,
i can see now,that they (los espanoles) used the numbers that have been put on the front of the cars,not OUR PERSONAL CAR NUMBERS,
& very glad theyre in more than capable hands now,,,,
pip pip cheerio mate,,,lets race em,,,,

[Edo]

...Lets please be gentlemen...

Thanks Jairus, you said it all extremely well!

Also thanks to you too Lowrider for taking the time to show our proxy cars as they are now .

Warmest Regards

Edo

[Lowrider]

Thank you Mr The Kingie, and thanks to you other mere mortals as well.
Lots of photos to show and a little more time to do it today. Not all make pleasant viewing so those with a delicate constitution should perhaps proceed with caution.

First up Mr J. Watson's Marvelous Contraption that proved camera-shy yesterday. Crack in the front, slight paint erosion, worn out braids and bent axle.









Why are Jairus' braids so worn when most others are still okay? Oh, they're VINTAGE. That explains it ...



Difficult to capture a vibration on film. Check out the far right edge of the right side tire.



The cars now will come in no particular order, simply the way the boxes came to hand.

Phil Smith: good ground clearance, a sloppy rear axle, a damaged body which I believe happened a while ago and the motor runs okay. Actually all the motors ran okay with one exception which will be noted when the car is described.





John Dilworth: Good clearance - taller at the front than at the rear giving Dyna Rigg special off road capabilities. (One never knows what Mrs Peel may be asked to perform at a moment's notice.) She appears to have discarded some of her paintwork along the way as well. Careless of her.





Ralph Klose: it would be a stretch to describe Ralph's Budweiser car as a thing of beauty when the series started. No change there then. Ground clearance was okay but one of Ralph's brass tube axle spacers was missing which is far from ideal. It'll be replaced before the race is held.
Ralph's motor was obviously unwell. It did run when turned over by hand but the problem turned out to be serious. I handed it over to Chief Engineer Secchi at Wednesday's race meeting at North London and his diagnosis was that the brush gear had melted into the endbell. It resisted attempts to repair it and a relacement vintage endbell is currently being sourced. That shouldn't be a problem.





More shortly.

[Lowrider]

Gary Vogeler: Old body damage, which is a shame because it was such a beauty. Okay clearance rather than 'good'. Gear mesh wasn't brilliant and I noticed that one of Gary's axle spacers was missing as well. That will be rectified soon.





Al Bond's Blacklight: Pre-existing body damage which is another cause for sadness. What has it been repaired with? The chassis clearance was good but the body hangs below the frame at the sides and a slight trim might be in order. The same thing could be performed on Mr Havlicek's car if he was willing? My experience has been that having anything, body or chassis, touching the track soon makes your car's handling go away.





Steve King's Vampire: clearance and the rear axle assembly were fine except that one of the rear tires has obviously been enjoying a close relationship with the body and chassis. Nasty body damage at the front, I'm sorry to report Steve.





Rob Hanson's Streamliner Cuc: adequate ground clearance, mesh and axle were okay and slight front end body damage - some of which has already been taped.







Miss K's Jupiter: ground clearance was okay but not excessive, gear mesh was perfect by my reckoning and there was only very mild paint erosion. Still gorgeous!









To be continued.

[Lowrider]

Next up - Joe Lupo: lovely car although I understand it's not exactly a track scorcher. Huge ground clearance front and rear with a perfect gear mesh. I did notice that Joe's rear tires are quite hard. We'll see how that shapes up when I do some exploratory laps with the cars on Wednesday week. A couple of minor body blemishes but nothing dramatic.







Ray Fellows: low ground clearance but still raceable. If Ray wants, I'm happy to freshen up his rear tires for him. Same goes for anyone else who thinks it worthwhile. Slightly loose rear axle and a few body cracks. Ray's tough. He'll take it.







Wave Maker: Okay ground clearance and in common with all the sidewinder cars, the gear mesh was perfect. A couple of small chips out of the body at the front corners and a repaired crack at the rear. Slight paint erosion.











The Thingie Kingie's Edo-Tron: most of the chassis has okay clearance but one of the pans is hanging low. I'll look into that and remedy it if possible. Sloppy gear/rear axle assembly but the really good news is that the body is still in great shape. I had inferred from Jordi that the Tron car was the damaged one but happily that is not the case. Still beautiful, E!
One of the braids is, however, a poor fit in the guide and it extends forward too far resulting in a short circuit risk. Easy fix.





The low pan.





Paul Wolcott: Good ground clearance, perfect gear mesh and except for a tiny ding in the front of the body everything is ship shape and AOK.





More to come.

[Lowrider]

Bob Israelite's Astro V: another car with huge ground clearance front and rear. Is levitation in vogue on Mars? I'll have to consult my trend consultant.
Perfect gear mesh and a moderate but not life-threatening crack at the rear. (Yes, I know. We've all got one. Ho-dee ho ho ...)





Brian McPherson/REM Raceway's Bat Car: the rear clearance is okay but something is amiss at the front of the car. Brian is the innovator of the 'wonky gear guard' in the field of retro chassis building but I think this is something else. One side at the front is on the track and the other is way up in the air. Not good. I'll have to pull the body and have a closer look. The 'sprung' Dynamic front axle doesn't seem to sit properly either. Perhaps the car's builder might have considered using a front axle assembly that actually perform it's regular function rather than aiming for maximum Dynamic points? (Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr W.!)
Evidence of body/rear wheel contact is the only damage to what I think is one of Gene's finest efforts.











Manta Ray: Good clearance, perfect gear mesh and no body damage. It's all good news for Ray.
He was concerned with brush wear on his motor and I took some photos of that area for him. Brush wear is evident but there still seems to be plenty of life left in them. About 2/3 - 3/4 still there by my estimate. Other users of original 16D brush gear should take note also, I guess.









John Austin's Stinger Roadster: reasonable ground clearance, a slightly tight gear mesh and a single crack in one corner of where one might expect an interior to sit. Not this time.





Final five cars to come.

[Lowrider]

Dominic Zimmerman's Aculeus: good rear clearance, slight sideways movement on the rear axle and the body looks as good as the day it was painted. No damage at all. Has it ever seen the track?



Don Siegel's Derrière: ... let's not go there, shall we? Good clearance, perfect rear axle movement and gear mesh with only small paint damage at the other end from it's derrière. The FRONT. That's it.





Barney's Orange Crate: reasonable ground clearance and a bit of rear axle sideways slop has left the mesh a little on the loose side. We don't have hex drivers in England, Barney. It's the law. Sorry.
A few body cracks have appeared since I last saw photos of the car but that's all a part of having a fast car, in my book. Let me know what you'd like me to do about them, if anything, Barn.











Mike Zimmerman's Scorpion: reasonable clearance, that perfect sidewinder gear mesh and some slight frontal damage. The series leader, I believe? Go Z!





Jens Graf's Needle: more reasonable ground clearance, the gear mesh is fine and only the smallest of scratches on that long, long nose.





That's the situation as the Dynamic cars came out of their boxes. If anyone has any requests for special attention for their entry, they should say so now. Nothing reasonable refused.
I propose to remove the extra car number stickers as soon as possible. They're ugly and they only serve to confuse identification of the cars which should all have series entry numbers anyway.

Any comments so far?

Tomorrow I'll discuss my plans for running the North London round and the progress made towards it so far.
Best regards,

[MantaRay]

Thanks Steve, for the intricate photos of my car

[Pablo]

Thank You !! Steve - a - roonie !!!!!!!!

[tonyp]

How many more events to run, some of those bodies are getting pretty ragged.

[JohnnySlotcar]

Thanks for the great deal time you are spending on our "Babies"! Could you please adjust the gear mesh and let me know if it needs a new one, as that is an original Cox unit. John Austin

[Jairus]

Thank you Steve for the great pics and details... with a bit of British humor thrown in.
As for my car, #42, I believe there is not enough time have me send a new axle. If you could find a replacement from one of your buddies, I will gladly refund the bloke and offer my undying gratitude. As for brushes, there is a replacement guide complete with brushes and leadwires if you could find the time to swap... I again remain eternally grateful.

Thank you again for the wonderful report.

[slotbaker]

Steve, as the others have said, great reporting on the cars, and thanks for putting in the time to do it.

Poor old Dynogram got smacked in the nose in the first race in Chicago, so it looks like it hasn't suffered much more, believe it or not.
I guess it's too slow, huh!

There should be a pair of tyres in the spares lot, so please replace both rears.
It would also be great if you could trim or re-position the body away from the rear tyres. The body mounts are a bit flexible and should be able to jiggle the body clear of the tyres.

Thanks again.

[Gator Bob]

Bob Israelite's Astro V: another car with huge ground clearance front and rear. Is levitation in vogue on Mars? I'll have to consult my trend consultant. Perfect gear mesh and a moderate but not life-threatening crack at the rear. (Yes, I know. We've all got one. Ho-dee ho ho ...)

Thanks for the big crack close up picture, the lighting is perfect A piece of body armor on the "backside" would be handy and dandy.
Marvin said "You are the lowest of the Lowriders, please make me so", "Slash all the timeless rubber if you must my Lowliness"

[Jairus]

Yeah Steve, I have a feeling that this is the best time to put any replacement rubber on the cars if the boxes have been so equipped. (I know mine was!)

[One27ray]

great report/pic's Steve!!

Battle damage is expected in a long race series, it give the cars personnelity Please replace tires on the #44 and/or what ever you think might need fixing
ViVa the Dynamic Series
i-ray

[HarV Wallbanger III]

Thanks Steve.... fix the gear mesh and armor the bod any way you can to keep it on the road. There are tires in one of the tubes if you think it needs them. Also is my spare motor still there?

[chief32s]

Al Bond's Blacklight: Pre-existing body damage which is another cause for sadness. What has it been repaired with? The chassis clearance was good but the body hangs below the frame at the sides and a slight trim might be in order. The same thing could be performed on Mr Havlicek's car if he was willing? My experience has been that having anything, body or chassis, touching the track soon makes your car's handling go away.

Many thanks Steve, feel free to trim away. If I make it to London I'll bring the spray can and touch up that unsightly front. Otherwise she seems to be doing fine.

Al.

[One_Track_Mind]

If anyone has any requests for special attention for their entry, they should say so now. Nothing reasonable refused.

Yea! Can you fix it?

Many Thanks for extra effort,you put into all this Steve.
If this is any indication on how well the race report will delievered, I can hardly wait!

It will be a difficult task to follow once the cars land here in Ohio,at least your making my job easy, and for that I Thank You from the bottom of my

[havlicek]

If anyone has any requests for special attention for their entry, they should say so now. Nothing reasonable refused.

For sure, do what you think the car needs Steve. I guess it's mostly a crown gear and maybe a set of braids. In any case, if you tell me where to send it I can PayPal you money for them. Thanks for the extra effort!

-john

[don.siegel]

Thanks Steve! Great report, great pictures, great analysis, Great Society!

Sounds like you've been doing this a while too...

Looking forward to the race, and so is my Derrière...

Don